New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-07-15
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
rrrrY YEARS OF PRoGREsa.

FIFTY YEARS OF PROGkESH'
THE REIGN OF SvEEs isd 81 Tuoss
sSS s.n' smith, In Elder sS vsaS cs SS
j. p. Lppincott Co.
These two thick and handsome volumes represent
Tho most ambitious and in many respects the most
satisfvine of the Victoria Jubilee publications.
The plan of the work involved the bringing
touetbsr Of number Of essays by special author
tiles upon leading topics. Little or no endeavor
has been made to harmonic these essays and there
H. consequently, some inevitable overlapping
duplication. and contradiction. These deiects'
however. do not outweigh the merits OF the work.
which are manifold. The editor. perhaps has taken
too heavy share of the enterprise upon himself
furnishing, in the first volume, the Introduction
the paper Legislation Of the Reign" tnss on
@Foreign Policy" and that on Colonial fohoS
AMI Progress" while in the second volume no
tales 9Iocomotiou and Transport" and I" Art"
The otter papers are 4" Constitutional Develop,
,nentn by Sir William R. Arson; q" The Army
by General Viscount Wolseey; The navy ~
Lord Brsssey sThe Administration OF inc LAW
nv Lord Justice Bowen Religion anu .n'
Cburchesn by the Rev. Edwin hatcn' " W
SFinance" by Leonard II. Courtney, M g.,
3India.n by Sir Henry Sumner Maine; Irsianu.
h- Sir Rowland Blsnnerhassett; @The Growth
and Distribution of Wealth." by ROBERT o'nen'
Industrial Association" by the Right iiou' a. ~
Muudella. NJ. p. and G. Howell NJ. r; Agricuir
ure.r by Sir James Card; The Cotton irado anu
Industry.n by John Slagu. NJ. p; "The Iron Trade
mud i,s Allied Industries" By Sir Lowthian Bell;
q Schools BIZ Matthew Arnold; "Ths Univers-
itiesr by C. A. Fyfe, Science" by Professor
Huxley; Medicine and Surgery" by Robert
Burdenell Carter Literature" by Richard 0Ar.
nett; sThe Drama" by William Archer. ana
.Music,r by Walter Parrett There are maps anu
diagrams to illustrate the articles.
OF course the arbitrary conditions OF such an
undertaking impose upon it certain artihcian'y'
Il ia mpossib BILE to make period to order w'th'
ont exagserating and even to some extent throwing
out of their true relations the events concerneo
Nevertheless the present survey IS quite as
rs any Jubilee survey can we'll be, and many OF 'ho
papers are both interesting and valnaole. !noso
on tine Army and Navy. those on India and Ireland
th,se On Medicine and Surgery aud Science, that on
the Distribution of Wealth, that on Literature
that on Agriculture and that on Industrial Associa
tion are all emiuently worth reading. Professor
Huxley is, as always, interesting and Instructive
Mathew Arnold has written so much on scnoois
that his present essay strikes us as little more tnau
. decentralization The papers politics are
handled with o caution which can hardly please
part,saus of any kind. The one on Ireland Is
marked ny considerable breadth OF view ana geu-
eral soundness of Judgment That ON ln"l" IL
w.irbtv paper and full of suggestion Unfortun
atey the discussion of cotton and IRON ana s'eei
and other mater in terests took up so much space
that when tho So beet of Literature was reacueo
but little room remained As a consequence Dr'
Garnett has been compelled to condense his survey
of ffty years into about the nun Der OF pages
ano with the eaect of brevity which Is disap'
Manning. Scarce any opportunity is given for criti-
cal ;udoments but nothing save the Jubilee cou'd
excuse the entry of the Queens diary 10 tue nieu
lands and the padded cruise OF the bacchan'0
among the notable publications OF the per'oh'
All the articles being written for the express pur-
nose of showing how great the adv ance has been
duriBp the last fifty years. of course succeed III tue
demonstration. Some of them. as tor instance MI.
i3ens contain facts and figures destructive vi the
Henry George theory and demonstrative Oh the 1acs
that the poor are growing very decidedly richer'
In tho domain of science as In those OF meu cine
and surgery the gains illustrated are real ana h-
portapt Tie paper OIL religious progress Is not Sd
clear 40 most of the others 1t exhibits great me-
cbanical activity in the churches so to speak. but
il does not show what If any, genuine moral prog
ress can be counted. OF course the subject Is
difficult, but 1t might have been better handled.
lord Justice Rowen's paper on the Administration
q, Law il by no means dry. In nothing have the
changes for the better been moro numerous than IN
this branch of government, and this IS striRingV
illustrated by review of the state of the law wnen
Oneen Victoria came to the throne. Nothing that
Dickens ever wrote about Chancery Is stronger
than some of the statements here made, and made
with uuimpeachab BILE authority.